Linus Tech Tips Discussion

 New Government Petitions Against Payment Processor Censorship Summary New government petitions have opened in Australia, Canada and the UK calling for regulation against payment processors restricting the sale of legal digital content. These petitions were opened in response to payment processors forcing Steam and itch.io to delist thousands of lawful adult games by threatening to no longer provide service.               Quotes Quote "At the end of August, Carmen Tam from Waterloo, Ont., initiated a petition with local Liberal MP Bardish Chagger in response to recent action from companies like Visa and Mastercard to stop facilitating certain financial transactions from gaming storefronts Steam and Itch.io." - Bradly Shankar Quote "Mastercard, Visa, and other payment platforms have been leveraging their power over consumer ability to purchase legal content;" - Canadian Petition Quote "Government should legislate that payment processing companies may not place stipulations on use of their services regarding sales of otherwise legal content" - UK Petition Quote "Just like water companies or electricity providers are regulated to prevent them from stopping service based on arbitrary views, VISA and MASTERCARD should be held to the same standard." - Australian Petition   My thoughts Unlike petitions seen on sites such as change.org, these petitions have the ability to force government discussion. I like the point that payment processors are utilities and hence should be held to the same service obligations as power and water companies. As it stands, the ability of payment processors to condition service based on political views poses immediate threat to literally everyone. I feel it's imperative these petitions get as many signatures as possible to help push for the protections we need.                    Sources Australian Petition: https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN7799 Canadian Petition: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6695 UK Petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/734441 Article on the Canadian petition by Bradly Shankar, MobileSyrup: https://mobilesyrup.com/2025/09/04/canadian-petition-stop-payment-processors-video-games-censorship/ At the time of writing, articles on the Australian and UK petitions were unable to be found.   Where I originally found out: Water CS2 on YouTube: